A03 Time for RE

Every School and Academy must in law provide religious education for all its pupils – unless they are withdrawn by their parents. This requirement applies to every pupil on roll, aged from 4-19. Although the arrangements for local authority schools – agreed syllabuses for example – don’t apply to Academies, they must all give every pupil an RE curricular entitlement.

Academies in the local authorities covered by the AMV syllabus are all welcome to continue to follow it and to use the programmes of study.

In order to ensure that the statutory programmes of study in this agreed syllabus are covered in sufficient breadth and depth, it is estimated that the following minimum hours should be provided[1]:

In following this agreed syllabus, schools have the flexibility to complement discrete subject teaching with cross-curricular learning experiences that are more tailored to the needs of their pupils and community. In practice this means that RE might be taught discretely at some points during the school year, but at other times, might be linked with other subjects of the curriculum, in order to provide a coherent and engaging approach to a particular enquiry.

For example, schools might decide to include RE on ‘collapsed timetable’ days, or as part of weekly, monthly or termly projects. When doing so, they should be careful to include a focus on the TWO areas of enquiry linked to the units within the featured programme of study.

According to the non-statutory guidance on religious education, while schools are free to decide when and how RE is taught and how much time is spent on it, ‘they remain responsible for implementing the legally required syllabus and for monitoring pupils’ progress’ (2010, p. 2).